People living outside of capital cities can find it difficult to access the medical professionals they need. This is why researchers are harnessing technology to improve health outcomes in Australia’s regional and remote areas.
The Northern Australian Regional Digital Health Collaborative (NARDHC) is a collaborative led by James Cook University (JCU) that aims to improve health outcomes in Australia’s regional and remote areas through digital health solutions. It was launched in 2021 thanks to the Australian Government Department of Education under the Strategic University Reform Fund (SURF). NARDHC is led by Professor Sarah Larkins, Professor Nico Adams and Associate Professor Michelle Krahe.
“People in rural, regional and remote Australia deserve the same access to quality healthcare as everyone else,” Associate Professor Krahe said. “By harnessing innovative digital health technologies, we can step in earlier, prevent long-term illness, and make care more accessible no matter where people live.”
“Since 2021, NARDHC has provided seed funding for several projects,” she said. “Some of those projects have completed already, others are still ongoing with some having used that initial funding and development work to leverage more funding.”
According to Associate Professor Krahe, the digital health course for the rural and remote health workforce has been among the most successful NARDHC activities so far.
The team worked with curriculum designers from JCU’s Nursing and Midwifery program to create the digital health course, which is broken down into three micro credentials. The first part covers the foundational concepts of digital health, such as governance, frameworks, as well as regulatory and industry standards in the healthcare sector. The other two parts discuss technology, how to maintain, monitor and secure digital health data, and how digital health initiatives could be planned and implemented within the context the course participant is working in.
“The digital health course is for anybody, but specifically for people who are working in rural and remote health,” Associate Professor Krahe said. “Students going into that space can benefit from it, and people from organisations that support the rural and remote health workforce, but also academics, researchers and government organisations.
“The decision to create a course that everyone can do in their own time, little by little, has been very successful”, she said. “We're the only course in Australia with a rural and remote health lens to what we're delivering, which is really unique. Thanks to the funding we received, we can offer the course as a free resource.”
The virtual care program is another NARDHC initiative that Associate Professor Krahe is very proud of. “Northern Queensland Primary Health Network initially set up a virtual care program in three residential aged care homes around Townsville, so the residents could access healthcare via virtual telehealth carts,” she said.
The purpose-built carts have a laptop screen and video conferencing software and can be wheeled around from room to room and space to space. “The program is still ongoing, and, aside from telehealth, we are planning to include other functions such as medicine management that may be activated later down the track,” Associate Professor Krahe said. “NARDHC provided seed funding for the program, and it has later obtained more funding to expand into more sites across North Queensland.”
NARDHC will be funded until mid-2026. “This means that a lot of our projects and initiatives can continue — including the micro credential course. But we also have some new projects in the pipeline which will start later in 2025.”